The blogging fest continues! I apologize in advance about the out of order photos-- I still haven't figured out how to organize them.
Jumping right into today's topic: HomeStay with a Ugandan family in the area Mbale, Uganda.
For both our public health clinical, cultural diversity, and community engagement for school we spent two days with a Ugandan family. I stayed with the Soita family; this was not my first time at their house. Last January when I was in Uganda I did my home stay with the Soita's. It was nice to see them and spend time with them. This time I was more willing and brave to jump into helping out around the house. My friend Hannah was at the Soita's as well. We were able to go to a traditional wedding reception, maze mill, village church, and town clinic (No photos of this, but will explain about it).
FIRST UP: Church. Hannah and I went to a small village church with our host sister, Ruth. There was about 30-40 people there, and we were the only buzungus (white-people). Needless to say, everyone in the entire church welcomed us and shook our hand.
The nursery for the church was a mat placed in front of the church where all the little kids sat during the service so the mothers could watch the children yet still listen to the pastor.
Worship consisted of a guitar and three female singers. They sang a few songs in english but also some in lumasaba- the language of the Mbale region.
When the pastor came up, before he started the service, he had Hannah and I come up to introduce ourselves...oh, and give a short impromptu message. Hannah pointed to me for this...STRESS. I used what my host father had used the day before from Genesis 12; where Abram is called to leave his homeland and to go where God led him and tied it into us leaving our family coming to Uganda- where God has led us.
The service we went to was held in a class room at the local primary school, but they are building a church building to call their own (Pictured below). They are very excited to move in and start worshiping there!
( Fast forward: THE NEXT FEW ARE OUT OF ORDER- SORRY)
On our way back to UCU at the end of our stay the van over-heated and we had to pull over, add water, and let it cool down.
While we were stopped, the kids from the village we happened to be in came running to see the buzungus!!! "HI MUZUNGU" "I'm fine." "byEEE MUZUNGU" are the three phrases that they knew and would repeat over and over.
The kids love to get their pictures taken, and with digital cameras nowadays they love it even more when they get to see themselves.
I was quite proud when I saw this little boy wearing an Iowa Hawkeyes shirt; not sure where he got it, but made me happy.
One reason I love Uganda: BABIES!!! 53% of Ugandan people are under the age of 15, and I'm pretty sure that 10% is babies! I got to hold this little girl for a while, she just slept and snuggled up to me. Her mom was pretty excited that a muzungu was holding her baby.
As we drove away the children chased the van for a few seconds while shouting,
"byEE MUZUNGU, byEE"
Rewind:
Before our home stays we stayed at Mission Moving Mountains guest house in Mbale town. This is where my professor, Dave Muhovich, worked for six years. The food is delicious, the staff is wonderful, and the rooms are cozy!
In this picture we have Ruth (my host sister) and Ester (an MMM staff member) cooking dinner for the group. For cooking at MMM, they use both charcoal outside (traditional cooking) and a gas stove inside (more westernized way of cooking).
We had some team bonding time on friday night playing games, talking, and getting to know each other better!!! *precious*
This little cutie I saw while we were driving in the "wedding processional" to the reception sight.
My host brother, Seth, was driving a truck from MMM. A couple people asked if he could give them a ride...this was the end result- pretty sure it was about 20-25 people in the truck bed.
The reception was very pretty! There were a lot of people! So many in fact that there was not enough seating or food. Weddings are not by invitation only in Uganda. They announce in church when the wedding will be; apparently this couple was quite popular.
As we talked with Seth about what goes on during the ceremony, we learned that the whole church ceremony can take 5 hours, then a reception can go till 2AM.
Once the bride and groom arrived at the ceremony, they cut the cake. They cut the cake in little tiny pieces, communion size, and passed it around so everyone could taste it.
Here is the little flower girl enjoying her fanta.
The meal included Matokee (cooked green bananas), g-nut sauce (ground peanuts into a creamy sauce), goats meat, cabbage, and brown rice. We ate with our hands- a Ugandan tradition.
This is my date for the wedding- isn't he a cutie-- a little short, but still a doll. Next to me is my host brother, Seth.
We have finally have made it to my homestay home.
I have fallen completely in love with the little neighbor girls and boy.
They would sit on the ground at their house just watching what we were doing at the Soita's. I would say something to them in Lumasaba and they would just giggle and giggle. They would then proceed o chatter a way to me...I only know like four phrases in Lumasaba so I had no idea what they were saying.
On Saturday, Hannah and I painted all of their fingernails and toe nails. They were very excited! Even the boy wanted his done- who was I to say no.
It can sometimes be a challenge to get all the kids looking at the camera at once when you don't speak the same language. Patricia was to interested in looking at me than the camera.
The end result- so pretty!!!
The following content may not be suitable for small children.
Me with the LIVE chicken....see where I'm going with this??
Getting prepped- first thing you do is you stand on the wings and the feet of the chicken....
Then you grab the head just below the beak, pulling back slightly....and cut away... look out for blood squirting out of the neck. You have to hold firm with both your hands and feet... the chicken starts to convulse and FREAK out as you cut.
Me with the DEAD chicken... I successfully slaughtered my first chicken-- and only screamed a few times.
The next step is pouring boiling water over the chicken and pulling out all of the feathers...
Seth was a good teacher
We then put the naked chicken on the coals to get rid of the little tiny feathers and "fur" before cutting it up and cooking it fully. Dave came over for dinner that night and I was quite proud to tell him I killed the chicken he was eating...lovely dinner conversation wouldn't you say?
On Sunday afternoon, Seth took us to see how corn flour was made. It was quite the process. They ended up with two products: chicken feed and edible corn flour.
We had to walk back to MMM to meet up with the rest of the group. It was quite exciting... and hot.
But the stream we had to cross was very refreshing. (this is not the Nile river)
Beautiful sunset...
Before heading back to UCU we all went out to eat at a local Mbale restaurant.
Out group takes up a whole room. We're kind of a big deal.
Saying goodbye to these lovely ladies. In the middle is my host mom, Ann, and on the end is Ester. It was a fun weekend getting to see and spend time with the Soita family!
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